If I was looking to get a standalone mechanical numpad to go along with this for entering data into excel (for example) what should I be looking at? This board uses type-c connectors and KLL firmware and I'm relatively new to the keyboard community so I'm not sure where my search should start.

well the usb type doesnt matter too much, only this is it makes it hard to daisy chain into it, any numpad will work as long as it can plug into the keyboard, the numpad is not connected to the keyboard it in any way it would just be used as a pass-through to get to your pc. tbh you dont even need to plug into the keyboard you could just plug the numpad into your pc

No, the K-Type does not support USB pass-through and is not a hub. We chose USB Type-C for its structural reliability and because it is the connector type of the future. The K-Type is still using the normal USB specifications so it will work with any USB port.

Edit: Unless I'm misunderstanding that? I thought only the proposed K-Type numpad and other KLL devices would work?

So my next question would be what is KLL? Is it something I should be worried about for future purchases? Does it have any benefits to it? If the K-Type doesn't support USB passthrough then why even bother advertising that you support KLL when the board cannot interact with anything that uses KLL?

I guess the only way it could is if you had something further up the chain running KLL that had either a passthrough or a hub component but I would assume that a little numpad like what I am looking for wouldn't have that functionality. I guess I just have to get something seperately which absorbs yet another one of my pc USB ports.